It’s been a week since the assessment visit mentioned in the previous posting. As of this current posting, the family has not contacted either me or the coordinator at DINO Rescue about Buddy. I have made two attempts, so far, to connect with the family, but as yet, they have not responded. A third attempt was made just a short while ago. Whether or not they will respond remains to be seen.
On a different note, Lacey and her human had their training session at the Saddletowne Pet Planet store last night, where we worked on recall, sit, down, sit/stay, down/stay, heel, and ignoring distractions. Lacey did pretty good, but I noticed that she is showing resistance to the lessons: she doesn’t want to work, so she becomes vocal and tries to mouth when touch is used to encourage her to assume a sit or down position. I suggested to her mom that Lacey is bored, and recommended finding ways to make the lessons more interesting so that she wants to be engaged. Lacey is incredibly smart; even the simplest lessons need to be made challenging enough that her inherent curiosity can override the boredom she’s experiencing. Whether that means building a little maze in the yard to work on recall, or keeping her on her toes by constantly changing speed and direction during a heel exercise, the basic lessons need to be conducted in a way that will interest Lacey and give her a sense of accomplishment she will want to repeat. Getting excited when she performs commands correctly, on cue, and even automatically [without being told] also encourages her to keep working. I’ve noticed that when she’s rewarded that way, she doesn’t get vocal or resistant to further work.
I have made a video of last night’s training session. It shows how different Lacey’s responses are when she’s working with her mom and when she’s working with me. When it is ready for sharing, I will post it. I would appreciate your feedback about what you see.
Have a great day!